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Contract Risk Transfer and Insurance Business Decisions

City of Portland

Risk Management

Contract Decision Making Guideline

Vendor Contract Risk Transfer and Insurance Requirements

The Loss Prevention Unit’s core responsibility is to assist bureaus to protect city-owned assets and minimize loss to the city’s self insurance fund. The city’s self-insurance fund does not cover contractual liability. Contract risk transfer and insurance business decisions are the primary responsibility of bureau contract staff. However, the Loss Prevention Unit is available to handle questions regarding risk transfer and commercial insurance requirements for vendor solicitations and contracts meeting the following criteria:

High value

High risk

Emerging or unusual risks

Political or controversial

If you have questions about risk transfer or insurance coverage in a contract, here are the steps to take before calling Risk Management:

Call your bureau Contract or Purchasing Manager. These staff members have special training and can likely handle all of your questions.

Review any prior contracts that are similar in nature to the current issue. We find that most questions have been answered before and are already in bureau records.

Conduct additional research, as needed regarding insurance, risk assessment and risk management. Research Tips are available to assist you in this endeavor.

If, after adequate efforts, you do not find the answer to your question there, or want to have additional discussion about the materials or tools, ask your bureau contract manager to call the Insurance and Loss Prevention Manager in Risk Management.

We will ask you to send us a completed risk assessment. You will likely need to involve bureau program managers in the risk assessment process unless you are familiar with the activities or work to be done in the contract.